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/ Genres / Strategy / Emperor of the Fading Suns

Emperor of the Fading Suns

Windows - 1997

This game is fantastic, but good luck figuring out how to play without the manual-based tutorial. An awesome 4X that probably just confused too many people with its difficult to manage UI. The tech tree is a little confusing and it's tricky to figure out how to do well in the game. Some factions start with significantly better resource allocation on their home planet than others. Li Halon, for instance, starts on a desert planet with boatloads of fuel deposits, while others have almost no fuel deposits to speak of, making it very difficult to build and transport armies to other planets, which is an absolute necessity for expanding your empire.

The goal of becoming emperor can be accomplished in a number of ways, and you have various factions aside from the playable ones that will help or hinder your expansion. The Holy Church will randomly (or at the request of a well-liked faction with enough money) declare various technologies as heretical. Once that happens, you better avoid researching those techs or find yourself at the mercy of a fanatical (and gigantic) army of zealots, ready to purge the universe of your faction's lands and people. Other pieces of a fractured empire can be controlled through successful political maneuvering and even outright bribery, as every few years one faction is "elected" to a special seat of power that lets it assign control over other factions that remain from the decimation that followed the first great emperor's assassination. Each minor faction comes with a massive factory planet that can be used to build up forces, but beware of granting too much strength to these minor groups, because you may lose control of yours at the next election cycle.

Overall, this game is probably the deepest, most enjoyable strategy game I've played. There are many levels to the game, since each planet has an huge map with over 100x100 hexes of resources, fields, forests, seas, and other areas that can be developed and exploited to meet your goals. Then you get to space, where you have several dozen planets to colonize or conquer in an attempt to enforce your will upon everyone else.

Seriously, though, if you can figure this game's controls and get past the learning curve, you'll be rewarded with a gaming experience that that will see you staying up reciting "Just one more turn" for a really long time.

Review by Borismkv commented:

How to Play

You can mod the game to add more content and details in game. Instructions here: https://sites.google.com/site/emperorwarsfadingsuns/home/emperor-of-the-fading-suns-emperor-wars---reality-mod---downlao

To start the game on 64-bit Windows, run the fix to add information to the registry, and set the compatibility with Windows 95 in the properties of all .exe file of the game.

Comments and reviews

Jaded Cynic 17 Nov. 2024

To be more accurate, OTHER 'developers' come along, snap up the rights for a pittance, and then just 'package' it up and then plop it on digital stores like GOG & Steam. Not like Gabe or Marcin can fairly say 'no' - the property is being used legally...

1
Witchy 08 Oct. 2022

Often GOG rips off old games and the original developes dont make a dime.

3
anon 27 Feb. 2021

Why are people angry about GoG? The actual developers now are able make money from the result of their love and efforts to make these games possible.

-1
larry 01 Dec. 2020

you will never earn a penny from me gAg!

2
gg 22 Oct. 2020
Top comment

dammit, GoG swiped it in like a day.

you better download your favorites that are left, pretty soon GoG will absorb them all and you'll only have the garbage left.

6
code001 08 Jul. 2020

I had not the patience for playing all the level I guess I just played the lowest, yet I appreciate a lot its music that for my opinion was really fantastic and imaginary!

0
Moks 10 Jun. 2018

Check this for patches so you could play it under windows 64.

https://www.kborek.cz/forum/phpBB2/

-1
Turkot 17 Feb. 2018

Where is the version that works on windows 10?

0
HeadofEAGames 26 Sep. 2017

As it stands, It doesn't work, certainly not on Windows 10. you download the files and DOS Box won't run it claiming that it has to be Windows NT Compatible (hmmm), faffing around with the .reg file to set it to the correct location of the game on your PC drive doesn't help and nor does setting Windows Compatibility Settings to say Windows 95 /98 or XP, if you do this it then complains about the game not being "setup" and won't run. I managed to grab this game elsewhere on the internet and it worked well under Windows 10 (even without the mods). The music doesn't play and the FMV intro doesn't play (you just get a black screen) but you can get these from YouTube anyway and right click on the video and 'Loop' the music on the video whilst playing the game. A classic that needs to be remade. I bet some tight git from FASA reads this and pulls the videos and pulls the game from everywhere. People have no class.

-1
kek 18 Apr. 2017

numpad arrows or select unit and right click destination twice. DERP

-2
Jessesanman 03 Mar. 2017

Speaking of figuring out the controls, how the heck do I move units?

-4

No comment nor review for this game at the moment.

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Buy on Digital Stores

Emperor of the Fading Suns is available for a small price on the following websites, and is no longer abandonware.

Extras

Manual Manual 1
Extra file
Windows 8 MB English English
Patch Patch 1
Patch 1.4
Windows 13 MB English English
Fix Fix 1
Win 7 Regedit Fix
Windows 626 B English English
Mod Mod 2
Reality Mod 1.5
Windows 926 KB English English
Emperor Wars Mod 3.5a
Windows 10 MB English English

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